Chapter 42: Echoes of Confusion and Conflict
"Duchess!" a voice called from the room. Was it Vix?
"Yes? What brings you here?" I asked.
"Duchess, I’d like to talk to you about something," she requested in a hushed tone.
"You may enter," I replied, turning away from her. She stepped inside, and I heard the door close. A familiar feeling of unease crept over me, the sensation that had persistently whispered that I had no place in his heart.
"Duchess!" She called to me.
"Speak, what do you wish to say?" I responded without facing her.
"Duchess, you know why I’m here. I understand that you might be deeply hurt, but this isn’t what you think it is. I don’t know what the Duke may have told you, but-"
I interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. "What my husband has told me is none of your concern. Please, tell me the purpose of your visit."
"Yes, Duchess. Actually, you have it all wrong. There is no romantic involvement between me and the Duke. You shouldn’t let such thoughts cloud your judgment," she said timidly. Yet, her words felt like mockery, as if someone was explaining to me my own relationship with my husband, something I should know better than anyone else. Why did it feel like my worth was being determined by others?
"Is this what you desired, Bernice?" the god’s whisper echoed in my ear, a reminder that I might have made a grave mistake.